‘It really has made me think’: Exploring how informal STEM learning practitioners developed critical reflective practice for social justice using the <i>Equity Compass</i> tool

Critical reflective practice is a foundation of socially just pedagogy. This paper focuses on the informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) learning sector, where there an acute shortage support for critical despite long-standing, entrenched issues inequity. We analyse how practitioners used new tool, Equity Compass, co-developed by researchers through five-year partnership. report multimodal qualitative data (interviews, ethnographic observations, group discussions, partner site visits, workshops) from 12 in four settings UK: community zoo, regional science centre, digital arts centre initiative supporting girls non-binary young people into STEM. discuss using Compass: (i) increased deepened practitioners’ knowledge understanding equity issues; (ii) supported personal institutional reflection, helping move beyond ‘gut instinct’ to interrogate their own positionality, ask questions, critically evaluate effectiveness attempts at inclusive practice; (iii) fostered more intentional equitable planning practice, such as participatory approaches that shared authority with learners introduced forms representation. conclude discussing challenges, limitations, implications among educators.